Primal: The Awakening Review: Hey, Boss. Wanna Battle? 

A Top Ten Boss Battlers would be a fantastic top ten. Many of us love fighting a big boss together or controlling one.

Clicked on this review after recently re-watching the "Top 10 enemies of gaming" And both Kickstarter bloat and massive boxes were mentioned on the list 😆

Everything about this review was perfect for me. I fully understand and agree with the topic of bloat and giant boxes, but im glad to hear the positives are in what truly matter, the rulebook is good and the gameplay sounds fun. To add a bit of context, Prima was made by fans of the Monster Hunter video games. This was my main selling point to back since im a huge fan too and even though there is an official licensed BG by steamforge, Primal looked and sounded way funner and actually less expensive. That said, everytime Tom mentioned how he felt playing as a hunter it was like describing the same feeling you get while playing the VG, AND THAT IS AWESOME! The devs clearly knew what made MH special and tried their best to replicate the same feeling. The cinematic gameplay with big damage turns with escalating stats for both hunters and monsters based on equipment is exactly how its played in the MH video game. I am so excited for my copy, happy hunting!

Went all in on this campaign and have received the product. So far it's still in the box, but I have perused it and can't wait to get it on the table.

I would totally have backed this if they had put in a non-mini version with big discs represending the monsters. Its mind blowing to me how they would just ignore that market. Oh well.

I backed this and just got it in 2 weeks ago. I've loved playing it so far. I think a "Jaws of the Lion" style standalone set could do really well

I love this game and I’m so so glad I got it. It’s giant and sits proudly on top of my shelf’s and painting the minis is so fun!

My copy comes in Friday, and I'm so pumped to play!!!!

Really hope this system can be implemented in a cheaper more accessible game.

Great review! I need to get this to the table, and you've increaded my excitement. Hearing that they actually pulled it off AND its (relatively ) easy to teach and table. Thats impressive.

2nd KS ever and the three year wait was worth it. Excellent game!

I love the minis and they were by far the most fun thing I've painted, but the box size is a problem, I've brought 1 mini plus the stuff needed to play to a friends place before and it fit nicely inside an expansion box, I've thought about potentially getting some discs to represent the monster/hunters when traveling, but at home seeing the scale of the monster vs the hunters makes it feel even more epic.

I'm psyched to get to play my copy now!!

Man, I chickened out of backing this, but was still very interested in how it is and would love it play it at a DT con etc, sounds fun, as Tom described it it makes total sense he would like this, as would I! I get it takes too much space but it's also kind of a thing to have big minis etc with this style of game, kind of comes with the territory.

I think a small budget of this would work with even just characters being depicted as cardboard tokens and the monster being a top down view of a token. Yes, you lose some of the features but it makes it more clear where is front, flank, back if they were just big oversized flat tokens and you could still get scale seeing how small your top down guy is compared to the dragon. That would allow the whole game to fit in a normal size box. I went all-in and I'm pumped for the minis. But I could see making something like that to travel with and only using minis at home.

Man.. This is a shame really. The size of this box, and the costs, put this out of reach of so many gamers, and the shame is that it sounds like a good game. I didn't back it from the KS because it's too big and way too expensive, and the giant miniatures don't do anything but spin on the table. This is the type of game that I wish so much that they would've made an acrylic meeple variant of. It would've drastically reduced the size and cost of this game, and kept all of the gameplay in tact. I hope that they do this someday, because unless there's a massive sale on this, I'll never own it.

I went all-in in this. I just picked up some display cases for various games and would probably not keep this if it weren’t for them. The box is just too big. With the display cases, all the minis are out and all the cards and in two of the much smaller expansion boxes.

Mine is arriving soon really excited for this one. You could tell how much they enjoyed this one based on their body language and voices.

The game is absolutely amazing. Loved it and sold it. Had the gameplay all in and the amount of content was insane. The problem was all that content came in massive boxes. I had nowhere I could reasonably store it.

Acrylic standee version much needed

I am not going to lie, this game has some of the best teamwork. I love using assists or taunts to give my teammates bonus cards, I feel like I am part of their awesome combo.

I really thought I'd love this one but the price point put me off

Own this game and all expansions. Really like this one. Gives me that “Monster Hunter” feel. It is really big though.

First review I've seen for the final version of this game. Way to get this out first!

I forgot I backed this one until the shipping notification, and I'll say that I've lost all interest in this as a game. I am planning on painting and displaying the minis though

Would be SUPER interested in a standee version of this game. I think we are at a tipping point where we will see that more. All the gamers, myself included, are out of shelf space! (And money) Not to mention, isn’t it kind of irresponsible to produce all this plastic and ship this heavy stuff all over the world? Cost, space, environmental impact… standees are the future.

I remember seeing this on Kickstarter......4 YEARS AGO! I'm so glad I saved my money lol. Don't get me wrong though it seems really cool and reminds me a lot of Monster Hunter, but was just not worth the money and wait for it. Maybe someday I'll get it.

The rulebook is fantastic, the game is great (felt much better than MHW: The board game), so I'm glad to see these review scores! To be honest you can skip all of the campaign text if you feel like it's too long, the rewards are separated.

Is my memory failing, or was there another one of these monster-hunting boss-battler board games where one of the key features was climbing on the monster?

I'm so glad this turned out to be a real game and not a monster hunter ripoff scam.

How would you guys say Dante: Inferno another boss battler compares to this?

It's not even the price, but the sheer size of the box that deterred me from backing this... if they ever decide to make an acrylic standee version then I'm all in.... for the size of 7-8 standard game BG boxes i just can't justifying the required

I backed the gameplay all-in, then got the core box recently. It's ENORMOUS, and that's without any expansion stuff! Super excited to get this to the table, but gosh, storage space is a premium nowadays. 😅

Crazy developers/ designers make boss battler without a settlment phase. Only reason i play kingdom death monster. To drag the monster back to the tribe to feed my young, to buy tribe upgrades then new gear. So bored of the kill the next big monster just to get shiny new underwear so you can kill a bigger boss.

So is it better than Monster Hunter World by SFG?

I am getting slightly weary of this kind of reviewer bias where they seem to assume that because they "have" to play so many games and they don't have time for campaigns therefore campaigns = bad. Most people buying these games don't have that issue and love campaign games. Fair points made to a certain extent on the OTT miniatures and box sizes but you could argue that was part of the reason the crowdfunding went so well for them. Happy to see they were still positive about the game and they made some good points that would guide potential buyers. But please, please, please dial back at least a little on the "campaign fatigue" that REVIEWERS (mostly) suffer from. Still the best reviewers out there though!

The sheer size is what killed it for me. The box is daunting indeed. The game looks amazing though. I’ll think about getting it when they inevitably reprint it.

That box size… I just can’t.

make the same game with cardboard standees, drop the price, shrink the box, and i'm all in. we're in a golden age of board games and spoiled for choice, and a box that big (and expensive) could be 3 or 4 other equally great games. i want this game. i don't have room for this game. :/ (and to those who say it would lose some of the magic without the miniatures... see: Oathsworn core box. half the price, half the size, just as epic without the minis.)

What is it with these ridiculously expensive massive games? I also have a problem with how environmentally unfriendly all this plastic is. As a big solo gamer this also looks completely over facing in terms of set up and table space..... Overall... couldn't it just be smaller and still be a good game?

Would be so freaking amazingly cool, if they remake this, but with a Marvel/DC theme and cut down to 45min play time with smaller miniatures and box... and maybe even some henchmen sprinkled on the side to attack you 🤤 Imagine boss battling as your favorite heroes vs your favorite villain in these kinda easy to set up card game with a board and mini setting (not a fan of the CMON one unfortunately, too cartoonish and cards are waaaay too simple)

Is it worth $300? No. Easy pass.

Immersive game about hunting and killing monsters. Euro gamers: "we want standees. The miniatures don't do anything" 😂 Maybe this game isn't for you and you should wait for the next Feld or Rosenberg.

Seven. Hundred. Dollars. This game is SEVEN. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. at my LGS. To be fair, that includes tax, but the price with tax is the price a consumer has to pay for it.